Test taken: English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 1 day, but they were both scheduled before either happened
Length of interviews: 20-35 minutes
Online interview: Yes

My interview process started when I got emailed, a half hour before my interview, two poems to read and analyze for the interview (advanced warning was given that I would need to be ready for this 30-minute interval). I was asked to choose between the two poems to focus on one. When my interview started, I was essentially asked to give an overview of what I had taken from the reading of the poem I had chosen. Then, the tutors asked me to consider certain parts of the poem that either countered or could help me expand my ideas. There was a large emphasis on finding specific evidence in the text to prove or disprove a point. This part of the interview took about 20 minutes. The final 5-10 minutes of my first interview were dedicated to questions designed to give me an opportunity to expand upon my personal statement, based on the sections of that that stood out to the tutors. In my second interview, that time was used to ask me questions about my perspectives on literature more generally and about how I might contextualise what I discussed in this interview with stuff I’d read in school or on my own time. No prep was needed for these questions.

I watched every video I could find about how the interviews work, primarily from my college specifically. Additionally, the university posts videos of sample interviews for most if not all subjects. I watched that and took notes on what the tutors in the samples were receptive to and how the student approached the situation. Once I knew what the interview was like, I just practised the format for what would happen with my college (as explained by the videos and an email from my college): I would read and annotate a poem for just under 30 minutes and then practised formulating my initial takeaways from that reading. For English, you don’t need to prep a lot of outside knowledge for these interviews. I was asked to make one comparison to a text I’d read elsewhere once in my two interviews, and that was a very open-ended question. Basically, use the resources that are available so you have a good idea of what will happen for your college, and then do some light practice of that format. But this is the part of the application process where it is easiest for your enthusiasm to shine through: don’t get too caught up in overworking yourself so that you can’t find joy in the process, both for your application’s sake and also for that of your health.

I watched all the videos I could find about how to approach the exam. The ones that were the most helpful were from two groups: ones by Cambridge Assessment detailing how and why the tests are created the way they are and how they’re being marked and this one where a group of current students, so applicants who were successful on this exam, walked through a practice paper and explained the ways they would each approach that particular ELAT paper. Then, I read a bunch of graded example papers to see what resonated and what didn’t with examiners. Finally, I did two practice papers in the day leading up to the exam, one of which was the night before. I thought that was helpful because it gets you familiar with how to write these kinds of essays in the timeframe but it doesn’t overwork you or get you tired of the exam format. Remember: you’re applying to Oxford because you’re probably near the top of your classes in that subject. You’ve got good skills, so keep using them fun and fresh and you’ll be more invigorated in writing an interesting and engaged essay.

Honestly, the more you enjoy it the better you’ll do. That doesn’t mean you can’t be nervous or should feel bad about being nervous. Just try to be open to how cool it is that you get to speak on this subject with people who are so knowledgeable and accomplished in it. In that way, I’m usually nervous before my classes at Oxford, but that nervous energy is oriented around the idea that this is a cool opportunity not around something I have to be perfect at. And be open to changing your mind mid-interview. I missed a connotation to something in my first interview and got brought around to a more reflective interpretation by the tutors. This isn’t a bad thing either! The tutors really want to know that you can learn in a tutorial-style environment (which interviews approximate) and change your mind there. It honestly might have been more important to my application that I got that poem so wrong at first and then grew throughout that interview than it was that, in the following interview, one tutor and I had very similar ideas about the poem, and I got to bounce my ideas off his in a way that brought me to a more detailed version of my original interpretation of that poem.